Businesses need to produce a steady stream of printed materials--from memos to thick reports to, yes, the occasional unclaimed horoscope--with the fewest headaches possible. Your office needs a laser printer that requires minimal grooming and never breaks down.
How do you find such a beast? We've collected four good workhorse networkable laser printers, capable of heavy loads and ready to access by multiple employees. But before you buy a laser printer, decide which features you really need and think practically when it comes to design. Would you rather share one mammoth, bells-and-whistles machine, such as the Lexmark C762n, or outfit a handful of people with a smaller creature, such as the HP LaserJet 1320? Either way, we're talking Clydesdales here, not show ponies--printers that put function before form.
If a handful of people will depend on your printer for day-to-day use, the straightforward control panels on the machines we've listed at the right should keep the manual tucked away. A backlit LCD, such as that on the Lexmark T430dn, will keep you from squinting under dim lights. Scant buttons can be an asset if paired with an LCD to spell out instructions and error messages--a feature provided by the two Lexmark machines shown at the right.
Can the printer handle your work flow? Compare the number of pages you print to the monthly duty cycle listed in each printer's specs. For those who'd like to ax their paper-supply budget and save a few trees, each of these printers includes a duplexer that will print on two sides of a page. How much paper can the printer hold at a time? If your business has its eye on expanding down the road, get a model to upgrade with you. Maybe a 250-page tray is all you can afford now--such as with the Lexmark T430dn and the HP LaserJet 1320--but make sure that, as with these models, you'll be able to pop on more trays later to rip through reams of paper at a time. The Brother HL-6050D and the Lexmark C762n already provide 500-page trays with 100 sheets of space for envelopes or letterhead.
The printers in this bunch hook up to both Windows and Mac computers; the Brother HL-6050D and the Lexmark T430dn support Linux, as well. Any workgroup should seek Ethernet connectivity to allow for easy sharing. Each of these printers belongs to a product line that includes a network-ready model: just look for the letter n in the name, such as on the Lexmark T430dn. (Our reviews of each printer link to their networkable siblings.) Remember that the expensive Lexmark C762n, however, may require a network expert to install and maintain features such as password-protected printing. For similar features at less than half that price, we recommend the Lexmark T430dn.
Is your business jumping on the wireless bandwagon? Then get a printer with out-of-the-box 802.11 connectivity, provided by versions of the HP LaserJet 1320 and the Brother HL-6050D. If you get a machine without built-in Wi-Fi, you can still add a compatible print server for several hundred dollars. The Wi-Fi might be worth the premium, if you add up the cost of those long Cat cables, as long as you keep your network secure.
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